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Default Fan blade breakage

My ceiling fan has 4-blades and appears to be in good shape, but 2 of
the blades (on opposite sides) just broke off while the fan was
running. They just flew off...fortunately nobody was hurt.
Oddly, the breaking point was near the middle of the bracket that
connects the blade to the rotating part. (The part where the bracket is
screwed to the blade is still intact, and the part where the bracket is
screwed to the rotating part is still intact.)

Questions: If I find replacement blades, is it worth replacing them?
What could have caused the breakage? Are the remaining 2 blades likely
to break soon?

Thank you.

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Default Fan blade breakage

Cieling fans are pretty cheap, toss the breaking one in the TRASH ASAP.

Sibce other blades may have the same defect

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Bgreer5050
 
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Default Fan blade breakage

I agree. Someone can get seriously hurt or even killed.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Cieling fans are pretty cheap, toss the breaking one in the TRASH ASAP.

Sibce other blades may have the same defect



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Edwin Pawlowski
 
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Default Fan blade breakage


wrote in message
Questions: If I find replacement blades, is it worth replacing them?
What could have caused the breakage? Are the remaining 2 blades likely
to break soon?


New blades will approach the cost of a new unit. Yes, the other two may be
nearing the breaking point also.


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butch burton
 
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Default Fan blade breakage

Just for the group's benefit - any brand name on this dangerous sucker?



  #6   Report Post  
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m Ransley
 
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Default Fan blade breakage

Contact the manfacturer, send them a photo, I bet you get a new fan
free. Contact the consumer product saftey commission it might be on
their warning or recall list or add your name. The fan co is liable for
any damages in this. Dont bother fixing it , blade brackets will be as
much as a new fan and maybe defective as well.

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Wayne Boatwright
 
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Default Fan blade breakage

On Sun 01 Jan 2006 09:15:20a, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Edwin
Pawlowski?


wrote in message
Questions: If I find replacement blades, is it worth replacing them?
What could have caused the breakage? Are the remaining 2 blades likely
to break soon?


New blades will approach the cost of a new unit. Yes, the other two may
be nearing the breaking point also.


If it was a very expensive fan (some are), then it would probabaly be worth
ordering a new matched set of 4 blades. Otherwise, I would also toss it and
buy new.

Ceiling fan blades should *always* be ordered in matched sets of all blades.
Most companies balance these sets at the factory.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
__________________________________________________ ________________
And if we enter a room full of manure, may we believe in the pony.
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Default Fan blade breakage

great idea contacting the manufacturer, did that eons ago with a
toaster oven whos glass dore shattered when heating, company sent us a
brand new one for free.

lucky no one got hurt.

company undoubetdly tracks such reports and will already know their
cieling fan has troubles

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George E. Cawthon
 
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Default Fan blade breakage

Oh gees! If someone were killed by a fan blade it
would be all over the tvnews and repeated every 5
minutes for the next month and then repeated with
big investigative stories every 2-3 months for
years. One would begin to believe that people
were dying by the droves with fan blades through
the heart. Have you ever heard of anyone being
killed or even hurt by a broken blade from a
ceiling fan? If so the death rate is probably 1
person per 20 years.

Bgreer5050 wrote:
I agree. Someone can get seriously hurt or even killed.

wrote in message
oups.com...

Cieling fans are pretty cheap, toss the breaking one in the TRASH ASAP.

Sibce other blades may have the same defect






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George E. Cawthon
 
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Default Fan blade breakage

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
wrote in message

Questions: If I find replacement blades, is it worth replacing them?
What could have caused the breakage? Are the remaining 2 blades likely
to break soon?



New blades will approach the cost of a new unit. Yes, the other two may be
nearing the breaking point also.


Actually the OP said the brackets broken which
would be pretty simple and economical to replace,
assuming the flying blades weren't damaged.
Sounds like a case of metal fatigue or just poor
quality.
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Default Fan blade breakage

The cause depends on the age and amount of use of the fan.

If fairly new and the fasteners were tight then poor quality is likely.


Older unit with slightly loose fasteners and I would go with metal
fatigue.

If it is a quality unit then check costs of new blades and brackets or
just brackets.

Consumer affairs might be interested in a report. They will know if
there is a reported problem. Same for manufacturers support line.

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Dan Parrell
 
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Default Fan blade breakage

If the fan was never set up properly in the first place without the use of a
harmonic balance than the wobble caused the fatique in the first place. You
can use just about any 4 blades and brackets as long as they are all equal
in size, weight and will bolt up properly.
wrote in message
oups.com...
My ceiling fan has 4-blades and appears to be in good shape, but 2 of
the blades (on opposite sides) just broke off while the fan was
running. They just flew off...fortunately nobody was hurt.
Oddly, the breaking point was near the middle of the bracket that
connects the blade to the rotating part. (The part where the bracket is
screwed to the blade is still intact, and the part where the bracket is
screwed to the rotating part is still intact.)

Questions: If I find replacement blades, is it worth replacing them?
What could have caused the breakage? Are the remaining 2 blades likely
to break soon?

Thank you.



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buffalobill
 
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Default Fan blade breakage

this unit may have been assembled improperly, played with by kids,
bumped by your helper's ladder or mop handle, or had a defect.
buy a nice big new one with a light kit and remote control and enjoy
it.



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kevin
 
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Default Fan blade breakage

The manufacturer may instead just basically ignore you, even if you
mention (or threaten) that you will be calling the CPSC. If you feel
strongly about it (as in, you are pretty sure this isn't your fault
somehow), go ahead and then call the CPSC and report it. You can then
reasonably expect to hear back from the company, and maybe get your
replacement fan (or at least blades) for free.

Short personal story:
This has been my experience, especially when safety is involved. Sharp
customer service repeatedly ignored our pleas to fix or even help
explain a microwave gone berzerk (heating with door open). I felt
pretty strongly (my 2yr old was standing right infront of the door when
I opened it!), so called the CPSC. I quickly got a followup call from
"Marcy", who clearly knew what was what, and treated me with courtesy
and respect. She arranged a repair, then when that turned up nothing,
got an engineer at Sharp to explain what was going on, then followed up
a few weeks later and then again a few months later just to make sure I
was still a happy customer.

PS -- the "microwave on with door open" turned out to be a false alarm
in this case. If one of the redundant door switches fails (e.g, one
says "closed" and other says "open"), then the microwave (this one, at
least) shuts of the microwave element but powers up the rest of the
cycle (fan on, light on, turntable on). The engineer explained that
this is their cute idea of a hard-to-ignore warning, as it should scare
any reasonable consumer into getting an immediate repair. Sure as hell
scared me -- its just totally unexpected to have the microwave seem
power up when your hand is inside!

-Kevin

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buffalobill
 
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Default Fan blade breakage

47 listed fans at:
http://search.cpsc.gov/query.html?qt=ceiling+fans

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PaPaPeng
 
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Default Fan blade breakage

On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 00:29:42 GMT, "Dan Parrell"
wrote:

If the fan was never set up properly in the first place without the use of a
harmonic balance than the wobble caused the fatique in the first place.


The fan blade is probably one of those particle board types. When it
broke there won't be enough mass momentum or sharp edges to kill
anyone. A bruise at worst if it hit someone.

My suspicion on why it broke is probably the bolts were overtightened
when they were installed. With particle board fan blades this over
tightening could have cracked the board. Bolt tension held the blades
in place. With time and use blades worked loose. One missing blade
would cause enough wobble to throw the others too.
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Default Fan blade breakage

Negative. The brackets broke in the middle. The blades have no
cracks. The bolts are all still in place. The fan worked well without
wobbling for years and we have no kids to mess with it.

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Default Fan blade breakage

On Monday, January 2, 2006 at 10:00:01 AM UTC-8, wrote:
Negative. The brackets broke in the middle. The blades have no
cracks. The bolts are all still in place. The fan worked well without
wobbling for years and we have no kids to mess with it.


This identical incident just happened to me last night. Fortunately no one get injured but could have.


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Default Fan blade breakage


Same thing happened to my kitchen fan. One blade just broke off AT THE MIDDLE OF THE METAL not at the screws. I have no small kids. No one was in the kitchen. I thought the fire department was knocking down my front door with a poll when I heard the noise. I guess as the blade broke off, it hit the ceiling or the refrigerator several times. Very scary. I've decided to replace the fan based on this board. Someone said there might be structural weaknesses in the metal and the other blades might break the same way. Suppose someone is in the kitchen when this happens?

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